There comes a moment in many of our lives when achievement no longer feels sufficient. I spent 15 years in the army, and those years were filled with accomplishments: 6 rank promotions, 27 medals, countless coins and certificates. It wasn’t until I became a Jedi and really started down this path that it occurred to me that a person may gather accomplishments, routines, possessions, knowledge, and yet still feel a question beneath the surface:
Is there more than this?
Not more status. Not more recognition. And definitely not more attention!
But something deeper: A way of living that feels connected and intentional. For those of us who have walked the spiritual path of Jediism, that question is not a problem to solve, it is an invitation. Whether we define the Force spiritually, symbolically, philosophically, or as a reflection of interconnected existence, this path asks a single, very important question:
What kind of person are you becoming?
Because in the end, life is not measured by what we accumulate, what rank we achieve, or how many books we read. It is shaped by who we become through the choices we make.
The path of a Jedi begins with an interesting set of realizations that can feel both humbling and liberating:
You are not separate from life.
Your actions ripple outward.
Your presence changes environments.
Your words remain with people long after conversations end.
You are connected.
To walk the Jedi path is to become aware of that connection. And awareness changes everything. Most people move through life on autopilot.
Wake.
Work.
Eat.
Repeat.
Days become months.
Months become years.
Without noticing, habits become identity.
But the Jedi path interrupts this pattern. It forces you to ask things like: What am I doing? Why am I doing it? What values shape my choices? What am I becoming? These questions are not meant to create guilt or shame, they are meant to give you self awareness, and that awareness gives us the ability to choose. And choice is where transformation begins. The spiritual path of the Jedi is not about becoming perfect. Perfection is not the destination. Practice is!
There is tremendous pressure in the world to appear complete. People feel expected to have answers. To seem successful. To appear confident. But the Jedi path begins by releasing that illusion. We are not perfect beings, and we never will be….and that’s the one thing that no matter how much your practice, you still will never achieve. However, you become who you are meant to be through practice. This means accepting something difficult though…Growth requires honesty with yourself. There are parts of ourselves we often avoid:
Fear.
Pride.
Resentment.
Attachment.
Impatience.
Control.
Avoidance.
The Jedi path does not demand that these disappear instantly. Instead, it teaches observation. Notice them. Learn from them. Understand them. Because what remains unseen often gains influence. Many people fear self-examination because they believe discovering weakness means discovering failure. But the opposite is more often true.
The Jedi does not ask, “How can I become flawless?” The Jedi asks, “How can I become more aligned?”
Alignment means living in greater agreement with your values. If you value compassion, practice compassion. If you value discipline, create routines. If you value wisdom, seek understanding. If you value courage, move toward difficult truths. One of the greatest lessons of Jediism is learning the difference between feeling and becoming. Emotions matter. They are part of being human.
Fear can reveal importance.
Anger can expose injustice.
Sadness can express love.
Joy can restore energy.
The Jedi path teaches emotional awareness without emotional surrender. Feel deeply but choose wisely. This does not mean suppressing emotion (something you all know I believe to be impossible in the real world). It means refusing to become controlled by temporary states. Imagine your thoughts and emotions as weather. Storms arrive then blow away, but the sky remains. When life is really throwing it at you, your deeper values remain. Your awareness remains.
The Jedi path does not create people who never struggle. Life sucks sometimes. We have all been there. I’d love to tell you all that things work out, but sometimes they don’t. Horrible things can and do happen to amazing people. But the one thing this path does create is a stronger you!!! A you who bounces back, a you who learns from your mistakes, a you who can handle disappointment, a you who can face your fears head on. The Jedi path is not measured by how rarely you fall. It is measured by how faithfully you begin again.
There is a huge misunderstanding about Jediism: that it exist primarily for personal peace. But Jediism goes way beyond self improvement. It calls people toward service. Because service creates responsibility, if your life influences others, then your choices matter. How you speak matters. How you treat strangers matters. How you handle conflict matters. How you respond to suffering matters. That said, service does not always have to be that dramatic. It can be as simple as listening or encouraging, or teaching, or forgiving, or saying a few kind words when they are needed most. The Jedi understands that ordinary choices are rarely ordinary when people are counting on them. You may never fully know the effect of your presence, But that does not mean it’s not important.
So if you stand at the beginning of this path, or if you have walked it for years and feel uncertain, remember this: You do not need perfection. You do not need permission. You do not need super powers. You need willingness. Willingness to observe, to learn, to practice, and to grow. The path is not hidden. It appears every day. In ordinary moments. In difficult decisions. In acts of compassion. In moments of discipline. In opportunities to begin again. And trust that every intentional step changes something, because this path is not about becoming greater than others. It is about becoming more fully yourself. More awake. More aligned. More compassionate. More disciplined. More present. More connected. And perhaps that is what the biggest idea of the Force really is. Not to become better than someone else, but to become who you are capable of being. Do that by:
Taking the next step.
Not all the steps.
The next one.
Read one page.
Practice one discipline.
Have one honest conversation.
Offer one act of kindness.
Spend one moment in silence.
Make one better decision.
These are the steps that will transform you into the Jedi you want to be. It’s a lifelong process. Even we Masters still work at these things everyday. What makes us Masters is us knowing that we will still be taking the next step until the day we die and take that final step. Knowledge is the “something more to life” we are always seeking. And it’s in gaining that knowledge that we become who we are meant to be.
